[Closed] Happy Deathday

[robintohood]

Who: Jason Todd robintohood and whoever has CR with him
What: Jason dealing with his deathday anniversary
When: December 20th to 21st
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: PG-13 level violence and mentions of self-harm and suicide ideation

[The closer it gets to December 21st, the less present Jason Todd the civilian is. It's harder to catch him at the Descendant during this month because he hasn't been there as often as he usually is. He's not spotted as often at other places either his favorite libraries or any bookstores. Meanwhile, there's an increase in Red Hood appearances.

At first, the crime lord is seemingly burying himself with his work and trying to regain what his gang lost last month. Plenty of fights with other gangs, muscling in on territory, dodging bullets from mobsters. The beatings he dishes out on goons seem to have intensified. But as December 21st creeps closer, even most of that work gradually gets less attention from him.

The beatings continue though with a change in what information Jason wants out of his victims.

In place of most of his crime lord work are solo recon missions. Lots of decrepit properties are checked. Unused fairgrounds, warehouses, and even empty properties that used to be toy stores get searched. Jason's always on the lookout for reports of gruesome crimes involving things like deadly laughing gas, frozen smiles, and clowns too. Jason knows the Joker loves gimmicks.

For all of Jason's vigilance though, there's not even a chuckle or any other hint of the mass murderer. The quietness feeds into how unsettled Jason feels. He’s expecting something to happen. That's how the Joker works sometimes. He’s a sick freak who likes to put his own twist on special occasions.

So Jason keeps searching around Central City. That's what he tells himself what he's doing. He has so much rage, fear, and other negative feelings he doesn't want to contemplate. Once he finally kills the Joker he’ll finally feel at peace.

It’s either December 20th or it's December 21st when one might spot the Red Hood in Central City.

He could be zooming all over the streets on his motorcycle. He could be curbstomping and bludgeoning someone with a tire iron outside of a dive. He might be lurking on a dark rooftop overlooking the city, or staking out a waterfront warehouse.

Whatever the case is, he’s clearly in an extremely foul mood]

((OOC: My contact information is on this journal's profile and I'm in the game's Discord server. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns as well. I also have a feedback post.))

Comments

[levelshift]

[A person that's the epitome of chaos theory? Accelerator snorts.]

Scientists who use particle accelerators often have to use chaos theory in order to complete their experiments. I'm the same way, sometimes I have to incorporate it into my calculations.

[He did have to use it way back, during that fight with that Level 0, when he had taken control of every air molecule in Academy City to create a plasma bomb. So his tone is confident.]

Like I said, just because it seems insurmountable doesn't mean it is. The fact that you think he's impossible to predict is even more reason to quit a method that clearly isn't working.

[robintohood]

If you got suggestions to what the alternate methods are, I’m all ears.

[Maybe it sounds a little defensive and aggressive but Jason truly is open to hearing another way to find his killer]

[levelshift]

[He isn't the least bit bothered by the hostility.]

I want a coffee, first. Are there any cafes open this late?

[robintohood]

There might be a couple of spots around. One's close.

[There's a small hesitation before Jason looks away from the docks and back towards the city]

[levelshift]

[Noticing that hesitation, Accelerator steps away from the edge of the roof.]

Great, lead the way.

[robintohood]

[Being mindful of Accelerator's battery, Jason uses the building's fire escape to climb down back to ground level. They're going to walk instead of jumping around]

[levelshift]

[He's quietly thankful for that, and will follow Jason down the fire escape, relying on his crutch instead of his ability to get down to the ground.]

[robintohood]

[The cafe is only a few blocks away and in the Backbreakers' territory. It's a hole in the wall and easy to miss for civilians. The lights are on though. When Jason enters, the employee at the counter gives him a silent nod in acknowledgement]

My usual.

[Jason then looks back at Accelerator]

What do you want?

[levelshift]

[Accelerator being Accelerator is making a mental note of its location, because knowing where to get coffee (any coffee) is one of the few things in his life he finds to be extremely important. Especially when he's living in a city that doesn't have Japan's proliferation of vending machines.]

Black's fine.

[robintohood]

[The employee nods again and works on their orders. Meanwhile, Jason walks towards the backmost booth.

This evening has been a strange turn of events for him so far. But Accelerator is right that maybe he needs a different approach]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator follows him, retracting his crutch and dropping into the booth, kind of grateful for the break. He'll pull out his phone and set it on the table, before removing his crutch and stretching his arms over his head.]

The coffee here any good?

[robintohood]

It's good enough if you're the kind of person who would be up this late. Nothing to Instagram about.

[Jason stretches his arms. It's been a long night]

[levelshift]

['Nothing to Instagram about'???? Accelerator snorts.]

I'm not the kind of person that's interested in social media.

[He's a big weirdo for a kid, in other words, because what kind of modern kid doesn't use social media? It also means he isn't fiddling with his phone or anything while they wait.

When their coffees arrive he is immediately scooping his up and chugging it. It doesn't hit the same notes as canned stuff, but the caffeine still helps with his addiction.]

[robintohood]

[It’s after the server leaves that Jason takes off his helmet, revealing the domino mask he wears underneath. Then he takes a long sip of his coffee]

[levelshift]

[........... He knows a lot of people here take secret identities secretly, but the domino mask under the helmet is so extra.

Anyways. He looks down at his phone.]

How much data do you have on the bastard?

[robintohood]

Most of my data on him is based on back home. He’s only made a couple of appearances here.

[levelshift]

[That isn't ideal. Still.]

Then give me everything you've got on him that's here.

[robintohood]

[Jason softly sighs, takes a long sip of his coffee, and then goes into the topic]

Reared his ugly head back in June of last year but he could've arrived earlier than that. He kidnapped someone from a version of my world and made a livestream out of it. I still have the videos and posts just in case. Eventually we figured out that his victim was being kept at Lake Michigan. The rescue was a success.

I tracked the bastard down back to Central City by the docks. I realized he could heal after he took three shots to the chest and got back up from that. He escaped and then December of last year he made another post.

[levelshift]

[He looks a little disappointed that this is what he's getting, and he shakes his head.]

Be more specific than that. [He taps his phone.] I want addresses of all the locations he's operated in, bank account numbers, names and profiles of criminals he's hired. Give me the livestream videos and posts and all the metadata, including banal shit like IP addresses. And shit like where exactly you shot him, and with what kind of weapon.

[robintohood]

Got paper and a pen? We’re gonna be here a while.

[levelshift]

[Pen and paper? What is this, the Middle Ages?]

Do you seriously not have any of this uploaded into a database somewhere? Even something unstructured is fine.

[robintohood]

[Deadpan]

Does it look like I’m carrying around a portable database with me at all times? Of course I saved all of my notes but they’re not on me right now.

[levelshift]

Not even some kind of encrypted cloud connection through your phone?

[Accelerator please that kind of thing is only normal in Academy City.]

[robintohood]

[Yup. Jason gets the sense Accelerator’s talking about Academy City’s tech]

Not at the level you’re thinking of.

[levelshift]

[Accelerator slumps back in his chair, putting a hand exasperatedly to his forehead. God, way to make life inconvenient for him!!]

Then just give me access to whatever you have. I'm not exactly proud of it, but I can analyze data better than a supercomputer. If I've got enough data I can probably come up with some inferences for you.